Accumulator



M y 1941- o. D. MCFARLAND 2,242,751

ACCUMULATOR Filed Feb. 29, 1940 f 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 flew: @672 Patented May 29, 1941 STT s PATENT ACCUMULATOR Owen D. McFarland, Chicago, 111., assignor to Roofing Machinery Mfg. 00., Ohio ago, 111., a corporation of Illinois 20 Claims.

of example, the description to follow will refer to an accumulator for use with machines for saturating or coating roofing material.

In machines of this character the web of material is usually fed from a roll and threaded over a system of rollers, some of which may be located in a saturating tank, and others used for guiding the material through various stations in the machine where the material is givenother treatment, and finally discharged from the machine, either in an indefinite length or cut up into sections.

In machines of this character, it is desirable that the movement of the web shall be practically continuous. The present accumulator has been designed to permit continuous operation of the machine, even though travel of the material be temporar' y arrested, as for instance, when it is desired to splice the trailing end of one web with the leading end of another web of the roofing material.

One of the objects of this invention is the provision of an accumulator having a take-up mechanism for accumulating a great length of the web, permitting the continuous travel of the web through the machine, or certain units thereof, during brief periods when the web is halted either at the feed-in end of the machine or elsewhere. Another object is the provision of a plurality of rollers in the accumulator, over which the web is threaded back and forth in a circuitous or winding path, which rollers are moimted to yield when excess of strain is placed upon the web, thereby permitting the web to be paid out from the accumulator, although movement of the web at some point rearwardly of the accumulator may have been stopped. Another object is the provision of means to return the rollers to their normal working position whereupon to againrestore a reserve supply of the web in the accumulator. Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of this specification, and with other objects and advantages in view this invention consists in the several novel features of construction, arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

One embodiment of the invention is clearly illustrated in the drawings accompanying this specification, in which Figure l is a view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical longitudinal section, illustrating two of the accumulators arranged in tandem;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal section through one of the accumulators;

Fig. 3, which is an enlarged vertical longitudinal section through the accumulator, shows the rollers in the position occupied when threading the accumulator, part of the structural elements of the accumulator being omitted from the view for the purpose of clarity;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail fragmental section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail horizontal section taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a detail enlarged cross-section taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 7 is a detail vertical section of the clutch and speed reducing gearing taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 1.

Referring to said drawings, which are merely illustrative of one embodiment of the invention, adapted for use in connection with web handling machinery, such as apparatus for saturating or coating roofing material, building paper, and other web material, through which machine a web of indefinite length is threaded and upon which work is performed, the reference character 10 designates a floor or other supporting surface upon which is mounted one of the accumulators forming the subject matter of this specification, and designated generally by the reference character A. For the purpose of illustrating an application of the accumulator to a saturating tank 11, a second accumulator, B, is shown in said tank. Both the accumulators are substantially of the same construction and arrangement, and a description of one, in general, will sulfice for both.

In the accumulator A there are two upper and two lower horizontal side frame members 13, I4,

desirably composed of channel ironbars, bolted or otherwise secured to upper and lower cross frame members I5, 15, also desirably composed of channel iron bars. A plurality of upright bars 11, desirably composed of channel iron bars, are bolted or otherwise secured at their upper and lower ends to the respective upper and lower side frame members 13, M. The frame thus formed is supported by legs I8, bolted or otherwise secured to the lower end of the frame.

Upper and lower rollers 2i], 21, extend transversely between the side frame members and are mounted for movement toward and away from each other. The web C is threaded back and forth over the upper and lower series of rollers to take a circuitous or winding path from the feed-in end 22, to the outgoing end 23 of the accumulator. The web C may be composed of paper, felt, fabric or other web material of indefinite length, and it is drawn from a large roll wound about a spindle 24 which is rotatably mounted in a socket 2%, carried by a frame or rack 24 supported by the floor IE3. Usually a splicing anvil D is provided between the roll of material and the feed-in end of the accumulator, and an idler roller 25 is desirably provided for guiding the web over the splicing anvil and to the feed-in end of the accumulator. The outgoing end of the material may lead to the sec ond accumulator B or to some other part of the machine with which the accumulator is used.

There may be a single series of rollers at the top and a single series at the bottom'over which the web may be threaded from therollers of one series to those of the other, but I prefer to use sets of two or more rollers in each series, as indicated by the reference characters 25, 26 2|, 2|, with the web threaded around the several rollers as indicated in Fig. 2 by the unmarked adjacent arrows. As shown the web is threaded around the roller 2|, at the feed-in end 22, up and over the roller 28 down and around the roller Zi up and around the roller 2|],- then down to the next roller 2|, and so on through the accumulator. When the plural roller set arrangement is used, the capacity of the accumulator is greatly increased. However, it is to be understood that the number of rollers in each series may be increased or diminished from the number shown in the drawings. There may be only one roller at the top and one at the bottom if so desiredL As has been explained, the upper a-nd'lower series of rollers are movable toward and away I from each other, and excessive strain on the material causes the two series of rollers to 'approach each other. The means for mounting the rollers for such movement may ake various forms, such as movable supports, or endless chains, belts or cables, and the form herein shown for accomplishing this result comprises two oppositely disposed endless chains 28, to which-the bearings for the rollers are attached.

The chains are shown in the form of sprocket chains and they are trained over sprocket wheels 29, 30, 3| and 32, all of which may be idler sprocket wheels, except that the ones indicated at 29, 30, may serve as drive sprocket wheels for'the chains. The sprocket wheels 29, 36 arelocated at the ends of the frame, and above the top thereof, and their shafts 33, 33 are journalled in bearings 34 on the upper ends of posts or standards 35 secured to and extending up from the upper and lower side frame members 3, M. The sprocket wheels 29, 38 are journalled at a higher plane than the idler sprocket wheels 3|, to permit the sprocket chain to pass above the idler sprocket wheels. The mechanism above described provides a take-up mechanism on which a great length of the web is accumulated.

The rollers are provided with stub shafts 3B which are journalled in bearing housings 3%) that are guided for vertical movement in the channel bars H (see Figs. 4 to 6 inclusive) and the bearing housings are carried by or interposed in the sprocket chains, and as shownthe housings have ears 4!! which are connected to' adjacent links of the chains. The housings contain antifriction bearings ll for the stub shafts of the rollers, which anti-friction bearings are each contained in a cavity in the housing, that also contains lubricant for the bearings. A cover 42 is secured to the housing and encloses the lubricating material.

When the accumulator is to be threaded with the web, the two series of rollers are moved toward each other to occupy the position indicated in Fig. 3, which facilitates the work of threading the web between the rollers. For moving the rollers into such position, an electn'c motor 43 may be employed. Said motor is mounted upon a bracket or other support W1, and the shaft 43 of said motor is connected by a shaft coupling 45 to a shaft 45 of speed reducing gearing 66 which drives the shaft 33 on which the driving sprocket wheels 29 are mounted. A manually operated clutch Al is provided between the shaft 33, and the drive shaft 46 of the speed reducing gearing 46, whereby the shaft 33 may be coupled to or uncoupled from the drive shaft of the speed reducing gearing. Preferably the motor is of the reversible drive type and whenever it is coupled to the shaft 33, it drives the chains '28 in the direction of the arrows as in Fig. 1, or o in the opposite direction, depending on which direction the motor is running.

When the sprocket chains 28 are driven in the direction of the arrows, the two series of rollers-are, moved toward each other, and when the sprocket chains are driven in the reverse direc tion, the two series of rollers are moved apart.

During the operation of the machine, the web may be drawn from the accumulator A, faster than it is unwound from the roll c, thereby causing the upper and lower series of rollers to approach each other somewhat, and means are provided for returning them to the extreme limit of their separation. As shown said means comprise a weight 55, connected as by a cable 56 to a drum 51, mounted on one of the sprocket wheel shafts, for example the shaft 33 (see Fig. 2). Whenever the strain on the web is sufficient to move the upper and lower series of rollers toward each other,'the drum is rotated in a direction to wind the cable on the drum, and when the strain is released, the weight overbalances the ordinary pull on the web, and is lowered by gravity, thereby unwinding the cable from the drum and rotating the latter and therewith the sprocket wheels 30 in the direct-ion which moves the sprocket chains 23 in a direction opposite to that in which they were moved as a result of the excess strain that was on the web, thereby returning the upper and lower series of rollers to their widely spaced condition.

Thespacing between the upper and lower series of rollers may fluctuate, practically continuously, due to irregularity in the speed of travel ofthe web, and the means just described serves to restore the rollers to their normal positions "as the strain on the web becomes normal.

The speed reducing gearing above referred to may comprise a worm pinion 46* mounted on thesh'aft 45, which meshes with a worm wheel 46 mounted on the shaft 46 of the speed reducing gearing. Any suitable clutch may be em- The web may run from the accumulator A to another accumulator B, or to other operating mechanism with which the accumulator is used. In Fig. 1 the web 0 is shown trained around idlers 48, 49 to the feed-in end of the accumulator B, from which it is trained around the several rollers thereof as has been explained in connection with the accumulator A, and paid out between rollers 5|. The same reference characters for indicating corresponding parts are applied to both accumulators.

The accumulator B may be supported on the bottom of the saturating tank H, in which is contained a body of suitable saturating material. The saturating material isusually heated and as here shown, the tank is contained in a furnace, 50, which is heated in any desirable manner. As a preference, the clutch ,4! is omitted between the speed reducing gearing and shaft 33 for the drive sprocket wheels 29, and the shaft 33 is connected directly to the speed reducing gearing. With this arrangement, then in case of stoppage of the web at a place in advance of the accumulator B, the excessive strain on the web caused by the continued operation of the feed mechanism of the machine, with which the accumulators are used, will tend to operate accumulator B, but the friction interposed by the speed reducing gearing and the motor of accumulator B will maintain the rollers of accumulator B in their normal separated condition.

In the operation of the accumulators, they are first threaded. For this purpose the upper and lower series of rollers of each accumulator are moved toward each other until they are brought as close to each other as is practicable. This is accomplished in accumulator A by running the motor 43 to drive the shaft 33 of the driving sprocket wheels 29 in the direction of the arrow thereon and then throwing in the clutch 41. The sprocket chains are thereby driven in the direction of the adjacent arrows a, alternate lengths of the chains between the upper and lower sprocket wheels progressing downwardly and the intermediate ones progressing upwardly, thereby lowering the upper series of rollers and raising the lower series until they reach the position seen in Fig. 3, whereupon the clutch is unclutched.

The upper and lower series of rollers of accumulator B are brought together, by running the motor of this accumulator in the proper direction, for the length of time necessary to bring the rollers together and then stopping this motor.

The web may then be readily threaded around the rollers of the several accumulators and in the manner illustrated in Fig. 3, and threaded through the remainder of the machine. The direction of rotation of the motor of each accumulator is then reversed, the motors started and the clutch of accumulator A is thrown in. Each motor then drives the chains in a direction opposite to the previously mentioned one, thereby raising the upper rollers and depressing the lower ones to the position shown in Fig. 2, whereupon the motors are stopped. and the clutch for accumulator A is thrown out. While the rollers of each accumulator are being moved apart a great length of the web is accumulated between the rollers. If desired, one accumulator may be loaded at a time.

If new the trailing end of the material is stopped, as for instance when the trailing end must be spliced to the leading end of another roll (0 of material, the strain on the outgoing end from accumulator A exerts a downward pull on the roller 20 at the outgoing end, and an upward pull on the next adjacent lower roller 2| and so on. As a result the upper roller 20 is moved downwardly, thereby moving downwardly the length of the sprocket chains on which it is mounted, and drawing the horizontal length of the chain in the direction of the arrow 0., and thereby causing the entire chain to move in the direction of the arrows a, the alternate lengths of the chains moving downwardly and the intermediate lengths moving upwardly, and therewith lowering the series of upper rollers and raising the lower series, permitting the accumulated material to be paid out.

When the splice has been made, the motor of accumulator A is started, having been reversed so as to drive the chains in the direction opposite to the direction indicated by the arrows cc, and the clutch is thrown in. As a result, the upper and lower series of rollers are moved away from each other thereby unwinding material from the roll 0, and again accumulating a great length of the material. The clutch is then thrown out and the motor is stopped.

I claim:

1. An accumulator comprising in combination two series of companion rollers about which a Web may be threaded in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, connected, oppositely movable supports for the companion rollers of the two series, said supports having free and unobstructed movement along their length whereby excessive strain on said web serves to move the two series of rollers toward each other, and means, operating when excessive strain is released, for reversing the direction of movement of said supports whereby to force the two series of rollers apart.

2. An accumulator comprising in combination two series of companion rollers about which a web may be threaded in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, oppositely movable supports for the companion rollers of the two series, said supports having flexible connections between them, idlers over which said flexible connections are trained, and a motor for moving said flexible connections whereby to move the supports and therewith the two series of rollers apart and move them toward each other.

3. An accumulator comprising in combination two series of companion rollers about which a web may be threaded in a circuitous pathfrom a feed-in end to an outgoing end, oppositely movable supports for the companion rollers of the two series, said supports having flexible connections between them, idlers over which said flexible connections are trained, and a reversible motor for moving said flexible connections whereby to move the supports and therewith the two series of rollers apart and move them toward each other.

4. An accumulator comprising in combination upper and lower'rollers around which a web may be trained from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, a pair of oppositely disposed chains trained around upper and lower idlers whereby the adjacent lengths of chain move in opposite directions, the upper roller being carried by one length of each chain and the lower roller being carried by the adjacent lengths of said chains, and means to propel said chains in a direction to spread said rollers apart, whereby when excessive strain is placed on the web the opposite rollers are drawn 'towards each other and the chains are moved in a direction opposite to that imparted by said last mentioned means.

5. An accumulator comprising in combination upper and lower series of rollers around which a web may be threaded in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an Outgoing end, a pair of oppositely disposed chains trained around upper and lower idlers, whereby'alternate lengths of 'thechains move in a direction opposite to that l of the intermediate lengths thereof, the upper rollers being carried by the alternate lengths of chains and the lower rollers being carried by the intermediate lengths, and means to propel the chains in a direction to spread apart the upper ,a fed-in end to an outgoing end, a pair of 'oppositely disposed chains trained around upper and lower idlers, whereby alternate lengths of the chains move in a direction opposite to that of the intermediate lengths thereof, the upper rollers being carried by the alternate lengths of chains and the lower rollers being carried by the intermediate lengths, and means to propel the chains in a direction to spread apart the upper and lower series of rollers, including a weight, a cable,

and drum over which said cable is trained and connected to one of said idlers, whereby when excessive strain is placed on the web the upper and lower series of rollers are moved toward each other and the chains are moved in a direction opposite to that imparted to them by said last 2' mentioned means.

'7. An accumulator comprising in combination companion rollers about which a web may be threaded in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, a pair of oppositely disposed T endless chains, trained around upper and lower idlers, whereby adjacent lengths of the chains move in opposite directions, and oppositely disposed bearing members for each roller carried by the two chains, said bearing members for the companion rollers being so disposed with respect to each other on the lengths of the chains that movement of the adjacent lengths of chains in opposite directions moves the companion rollers toward each other and reversing the directions of movement of the adjacent lengths of chains moves said rollers away from each other.

8. An accumulator comprising in combination two series of companion rollers about which a web may be threaded in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, a pair of oppositely disposed endless chains trained around upper and lower idlers, whereby the alternate lengths of chains move in one direction and the intermediate lengths move in the opposite direction, bearing members for each roller carried by the two chains, the bearing members for one series of rollers being mounted on the alternate lengths of the chain and those for the other series being mounted on the intermediate lengths, whereby movement of the chains in one direction acts to move the two series of rollerstoward each other and movement of the chains in the opposite direction acts to move the-two series of rollers away from each other,

9. An accumulator comprising in combination a pair of oppositely disposed endless flexible supports trained around upper and lower idlers to provide upright lengths oftsupports between the upper and lower idlers, upper and lower commove apart when the supports are moved in one direction and to move towards each other when the supports are moved in the opposite direction;

10. An accumulator comprising in combination a pair of oppositely disposed endless flexible supports trained around upper and lower idlers to provid upright lengths of supports between the upper and lower idlers, upper and lower companion rollers around which a web may be trained in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, said rollers extending transversely between the two flexible supports and rotatably mounted on the upright lengths thereof, the upper roller being mounted on one length of the support and the lower roller being mounted on the other length thereof, whereby when the upper rolleris drawn downwardly, the lower rolleris drawn upwardly and vice versa.

11. An accumulator comprising in combination a pair of oppositely disposed endless flexible supports trained around upper and lower idlers to provide upright lengths of supports between the upper and lower idlers, upper and lower series of rollers around which a web may be trained in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, said rollers extending transversely between the two flexible supports and rotatably mounted on the upright lengths thereof, the upper series of rollers being mounted at alternate lengths of the support and the lower series of rollers being mounted on the intermediate lengths, whereby when the upper series of rollers are drawn downwardly, the lower series are drawn upwardly and vice versa.

12. An accumulator comprising in combination a pair of oppositely disposed endless chains trained around'upper and lower idlers to provide upright lengths of chains between the upper and lower idlers,'upper and lower companion rollers around which a web may be trained in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, said rollers extendingtransversely between the two chains, and being rotatably mounted on the upright lengths thereof, the

upper roller being mounted on one length'of the upper and lower idlers to provide a plurality of upright lengths of chains between the upper and lower idlers, upper and lower series of rollers around which a web may be trained in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, said rollers extending transversely be tween the two chains and being rotatably mounted on the upright lengths thereof, the upper series of rollerslbeing mounted on the alternate lengths of chains and the lower series being mounted on the intermediate lengths, whereby when the upper rollers are drawn downwardly, the lower rollers are drawn upwardly and vice versa.

14. An accumulator comprising a pair of oppositely disposed endless chains trained around upper and lower idlers to provide a plurality of upright lengths of chains between the upper and lower idlers, upper and lower series of rollers around which a web may be trained in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, said rollers being mounted on the alternate lengths of chains and the lower series being mounted on the intermediate lengths,

whereby when the upper rollers are drawn downwardly, the lower rollers are drawn upwardly and Vice versa, a motor and power transmitting means between the motor and said chains.

15. An accumulator comprising a pair of oppositely disposed endless chains trained around upper and lower idlers and around a sprocket wheel to provide a plurality of upright lengths of chains between the upper and lower idlers, upper and lower series of rollers around which a web may be trained in a circuitous path from a feedin end to an outgoing end, said rollers extending transversely between the two chains and rotatably mounted on the upright lengths thereof, the upper series of rollers being mounted on the alternate lengths of chains and the lower series being mounted on the intermediate lengths, whereby when the upper rollers are moved downwardly, the lower rollers are moved upwardly and vice versa, a motor and power transmitting means including a drive shaft, a driven shaft for said sprocket wheels, and a clutch interposed between said shafts.

16. An accumulator comprising a pair of oppositely disposed endless chains trained around upper and lower idlers to provide a plurality of upright lengths of chains between the upper and lower idlers, upper and lower series of rollers around which a web may be trained in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, said rollers being mounted on the alternate lengths of chains and the lower series being mounted on the intermediate lengths, whereby when the upper rollers are drawn downwardly, the lower rollers are drawn upwardly, and vice versa, a reversible motor and power transmitting means between the motor and said chains.

17. An accumulator comprising a pair of oppositely disposed endless chains trained around upper and lower idlers to provide a plurality of upright lengths of chains between the upper and lower idlers, upper and lower series of sets of rollers around which a web may be trained in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, said rollers extending transversely between the two chains and rotatably mounted on the upright lengths thereof, the upper series of rollers being mounted on the alternate lengths of chains and the lower series being mounted on the intermediate lengths, whereby when excessive strain is placed on the web, the chains are moved in one direction and the upper rollers are drawn downwardly and the lower rollers are drawn upwardly, and means to reverse the direction of movement of the chains whereby to spread the upper and lower series of rollers apart.

18. An accumulator comprising in combination companion rollers about which a web may be threaded in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, a pair of oppositely disposed endless chains, trained around upper and lower idlers, whereby the adjacent lengths of the chains move in opposite directions, oppositely disposed bearing members for each roller carried by the two chains, and parallel guide-bars in which said bearing members are slidably guided, said bearing members for the companion rollers being so disposed with respect to each other that movement of the adjacent lengths of chains in opposite directions moves the rollers toward each other or away from each other.

19. An accmulator comprising in combination two series of companion rollers about which a web may be threaded in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, a pair of oppositely disposed endless chains threaded around upper and lower idlers, whereby the alternate lengths of chains move in one direction and the intermediate lengths move in the opposite direction, bearing members for each roller carried by the two chains, the bearing members for one series of rollers being mounted on the alternate lengths of the chains and those for the other series being mounted on the intermediate lengths, whereby excessive strain on the web imparts movement to the chains in one direction bringing the two series of rollers toward each other, means imparting movement to the chains in the opposite direction, thereby moving the two series of rollers away from each other, and parallel guide-bars in which said bearing members are slidably guided.

20. An accumulator comprising in combination upper and lower side frame members, oppositely disposed upright channel bars extending between said upper and lower side frame members, two series of companion rollers about which a web may be threaded in a circuitous path from a feed-in end to an outgoing end, a pair of oppositely disposed endless chains threaded around upper and lower idlers, mounted on said upper and lower frame members, whereby the alternate lengths of chains move in one direction and the intermediate lengths move in the opposite direction, bearing members for each roller carried by the two chains, and guided for vertical movement by said channel bars, the bearing members for one series of rollers being mounted on the alternate lengths of the chain and those for the other series being mounted on the intermediate lengths, whereby movement of the chain in one direction acts to move the two series of rollers toward each other and movement of the chain in the opposite direction acts to move :the two series of rollers away from each other.

OWEN D. MCFARLAND. 

